Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery Program Program Selection Criteria for 200 Mid-Point Designations Evaluation is based primarily on the facility s responses to the Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery Program detailed clinical request for information (RFI) survey, examining structure, process and outcome measures for spine surgery. To be considered for designation, the facility must meet all required criteria and achieve at least 60 points on the RFI. Additional factors may be considered by the local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plan that may affect the decision to invite a facility to participate in the Program. CATEGORY RFI # CRITERIA DESCRIPTION POINTS GENERAL CRITERIA FOR ALL BLUE DISTINCTION CENTERS Comprehensive Inpatient Facility 7 Facility must be an inpatient acute care hospital that provides comprehensive inpatient care (e.g., Emergency Room, Intensive Care and other specified services) Accreditation 8 Full facility accreditation by a CMS-deemed national accreditation organization Institute for 9 Facility participation in IHI with a commitment to patient safety, including formal Healthcare 9a commitment to at least 6 improvement campaigns (i.e., initiatives) Improvement (IHI) Leapfrog (or equivalent) Association of American Medical Colleges Principles (AAMC) Health Information Technology 0 0a 0b, a 2 3 4 Nursing Excellence 5 Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) 6 Facility publicly reports on the Leapfrog Web site via the Leapfrog Group Quality and Safety Hospital survey If facility does not report to Leapfrog, facility participates in other initiatives that encourage the sharing of best practices, incorporates data feedback for objective analysis and promotes collaborative improvement *Alternate initiatives will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis Facility accepts the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) principles for all clinical trials Facility uses a certified electronic medical record (EMR) certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) Facility uses an e-prescribing program to facilitate communication that meets the standards set forth in the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) Facility has a formal process of medication reconciliation that includes: Verification Clarification Reconciliation Facility is currently active in one of the following quality nursing excellence initiatives: Has earned the Magnet Recognition Award of the American Nurses Credentialing Center Reports to the American Nurses Association s National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) Facility participates in HCAHPS survey and makes data publicly available on the Hospital Compare Web site for the most recent public reporting date 2 for at least 6 improvement campaigns for either initiative - BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0
National Quality Improvement Initiatives Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) Disclosure Pain Management Facility utilizes one of the following national quality improvement initiatives focused on surgical safety: 7 Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure, Wrong for either initiative Person Surgery World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist 8 Facility participates in the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) 2 Continuous Quality 26 Program has a formal CQI program in place for spine surgery services with the 7 components = 2-2 BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0 SCIP INF a: Prophylactic antibiotic received within one hour prior to surgical incision SCIP INF 2a: Prophylactic antibiotic selection for surgical patients 90% 90% for tracking and internal reporting 90% SCIP INF 5: Postoperative wound infection diagnosed during index hospitalization (OUTCOME facility tracks & internally reports data) SCIP VTE : Surgery patients with recommended venous thromboembolism prophylaxis ordered 8a SCIP VTE 2: Surgery patients who received appropriate venous 90% thromboembolism prophylaxis within 24 hours prior to surgery to 24 hours after surgery SCIP VTE 3: Intra- or postoperative pulmonary embolism (PE) diagnosed during index hospitalization and within 30 days of surgery (OUTCOME for tracking and internal facility tracks & internally reports data) reporting SCIP VTE 4: Intra- or postoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) diagnosed during index hospitalization and within 30 days of surgery for tracking and internal (OUTCOME facility tracks & internally reports data) reporting 8b Facility s SCIP database is able to produce procedure-specific performance reports 9 Facility has a policy on physician/surgeon conflict of interest 20 Facility publicly reports physician/surgeon conflict of interest related to financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies or device manufacturers 2 Facility discloses to patients prior to surgery exclusive relationships the facility has with device manufacturers or pharmaceutical companies 22 Facility has a written policy or process for selecting devices in the device formulary 22a Facility s policy includes a mechanism for tracking FDA-recalled prosthesis and notifying patients who have received them 22b Facility reports incidences of device malfunction to the device manufacturer 23 Facility has protocols for acute pain management in peri-operative surgical patients Pain management protocols are based on national guidelines: American Society of Anesthesiologists Practice Guidelines for Acute Pain 23a Management in the Peri-operative Setting for either guideline Pain Management Standards of the facility s accrediting agency (identified in question #8) 24 SPINE SURGERY PROGRAM CRITERIA STRUCTURE Duration 25 Facility has an interdisciplinary workgroup/committee/team in place for implementing pain management protocols and monitoring their effectiveness Program is currently and has been actively performing spine surgery since July, 2009 or for at least the immediately previous 2 uninterrupted months 2
Improvement (CQI) 26a following components: Collection of quality indicator data Analysis of collected data Identification of issues Development of improvement goals Implementation of changes Demonstration that the implemented changes improve the quality of clinical care that patients receive Ongoing requirements for physician/surgeon learning and improvement and/or regularly scheduled educational conferences 27 Program maintains an internal registry or database to track spine surgery patients treatment and outcome data 28 Program has a process in place to track complications in the context of a Data Management and Patient Tracking Data Reporting 3-6 components = 0-2 components = 0 program-wide quality improvement process 2 29 Program has a process in place to track reoperations that occur within 2 months on patients who received a primary spine surgery at the facility 30 Program obtains and evaluates patient satisfaction specific to spine surgery services with results reported back to program staff 3 Program has a protocol in place to contact patients (or primary physicians) for 3a follow-up and status information post-discharge 32 Program reports to a multi-center registry or database that tracks spine surgery Program reports to at least one of the following registries or database: 32a National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) 2 for reporting to any one Spine Tango registry/database University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) Premier Clinical Advisor 32b Program plans to participate in a comprehensive national spine surgery registry once one is developed Dedicated Unit 34 Facility has an inpatient unit dedicated to the care of spine surgery patients 2 Program utilizes multi-disciplinary clinical pathways/protocols for the care of spine surgery patients that include the following features: 5 features = 4 Multi-disciplinary Treatment goals 3-4 features = 3 Clinical Pathways 35 Sequence and timing of interventions 2 features = 2 and Teams Active participation of a multi-disciplinary team feature = Daily milestones 0 features = 0 Coordination of discharge, patient education and other patient needs 35a 35b 35c 35d 35e 35f Multi-disciplinary pathways/protocols address the full continuum of care across inpatient and outpatient settings Multi-disciplinary pathways/protocols generate standardized pre- and postoperative order sets Program has standing orders that are utilized for the care of spine surgery patients Pathways/protocols or standing orders are placed in the medical record for daily use by all care providers Specific physician orders are required to deviate from the pathways/protocols or standing order set Program consults resources to develop facility s pathways/protocols or standing orders (e.g., clinical guidelines, national standards) 5-3 BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0
Surgeon Certification and Training PROCESS Functional Assessments Patient Selection 36 36a 36s 36s2 36s3 37 53 33 33a 33b 33c 38 Program has written patient selection criteria that are applied to all adult 2-4 BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0 In addition to orthopedic surgery and/or neurosurgery, other dedicated members of the multi-disciplinary care team for spine surgery include: Anesthesiology Psychiatry/Psychology Pain Management Specialist Clinician focused on peri-operative medical management Nursing Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy (PT/OT) Physiatry/Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Dedicated case managers as care coordinators for complex patients Program identifies departments that have at least one identified clinician who provides as-needed consultation to the spine surgery team: Cardiology Endocrinology Pulmonology Nutrition Social Services Program identifies subspecialty certification(s) held by pain management specialist on the care team: American Board of Anesthesiology certification in Pain Management American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology certification in Pain Management American Academy of Pain Medicine certification Program identifies subspecialty certification(s) held by nurses on the care team: Surgical nursing Orthopedic nursing Rehabilitation nursing Physical therapists on the care team maintain the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) certification in orthopedic care Spine surgery team holds multi-disciplinary team meetings or case management conferences at least twice monthly At least two surgeons perform spine surgery at the facility, each of whom is certified or eligible for certification by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Board of Orthopedics or Neurosurgery or by the American Osteopathic Board of Orthopedics or Surgery with Neurological Surgery Certification Surgeon participation in American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or Canadian Orthopaedic Association (COA ) accredited fellowship in Spine Surgery Structured functional assessments that are routinely performed and tracked for all spine surgery patients include: Pre-operative functional assessments Functional assessments four or more weeks post-operatively Program identifies routine pre- and post-op assessment of functional status that are used for standardized indexes (e.g., Oswestry Disability Index, Roland Morris, SF-36, EuroQol 5-D) for each discipline (for a total of 8) for any one certification 2 for pre-operative assessment for post-operative assessment
patients referred for spine surgery Patient selection criteria are developed by a multi-disciplinary team of 38a physicians and staff Patient selection criteria is based on published guidelines (e.g., North American Spine Society, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 38b American College of Physicians/ American Pain Society, Back Pain Physician Recognition Program, NCQA) Program screens spine surgery patients pre-operatively for the presence of 39 anxiety or depression Program uses formal measures to screen pre-operatively for anxiety or depression: Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) 39a for any scale listed The nine-item depression scale of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) The mental health subscale of the Health status Questionnaire Short Form-36 (SF-36) Euro Qol 5-D Program employs or is willing to employ SDM processes prior to the next Blue 40 or 40a Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery designation cycle Program requires documentation of discussion(s) between a health care professional and a patient considering spine surgery that includes: expected outcomes and associated risks of the procedure and other 40b 3 treatment options recovery time needed to regain normal activities patient s values and preferences Shared Decision- SDM-focused discussion format includes: Making (SDM) 40c One-on-one discussion with health care provider 2 for either format Interactive group session Patient Education 40d 40e Specific SDM aids or tools are used: Foundation for Informed Medical Decision-Making Healthwise Mayo Clinic Program has SDM aid or tool formats available to patients (e.g., print, video, web-based) 5 for any of the aids or tools 4 Patient feedback about SDM process is solicited 42 42a Program provides standardized pre-operative patient education - 5 BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0
Medical Management 43 Thromboprophylaxis 44 Normothermia 45 Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Services Transitions of Care OUTCOMES AND VOLUME 46 46a 47 48 49 50 5 5a 52 Surgeon Volumes 54 Program utilizes established practice standards/recommendations for the perioperative care of spine surgery patients: American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Practice Advisory for Preanesthesia Evaluation ASA Practice Advisory for Perioperative Visual Loss Associated with Spine Surgery American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Guideline for the Perioperative Cardiovascular Evaluation for Noncardiac Surgery American Diabetes Association (ADA) Standards of Diabetes Care in the Hospital AHA recommendations for Smoking Cessation - Making Hospital-Wide System Level Changes That Succeed Program has a thromboprophylaxis protocol in place that is specific for spine surgery patients and incorporates the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism for Elective Spine Surgery Program has a protocol for monitoring and maintaining intraoperative normothermia for appropriate spine surgery patients Program has protocols for the assessment and treatment of physical therapy needs in post-operative spine surgery patients Program identifies aspects of PT/OT care that are provided routinely (e.g., preoperative and post-operative education, home assessment, functional assessment, readiness-for-discharge assessment) Program utilizes protocols for the intensive interdisciplinary spine rehabilitation of complex patients when indicated Facility offers intensive interdisciplinary spine rehabilitation services or is affiliated with a center for spine rehabilitation Standard practices for case management and discharge planning for spine patients include: Evaluation for discharge needs occurs early in the hospital admission Written criteria for hospital discharge and readmission Coordination of post-discharge needs (e.g., physical therapy, home care services) Written protocol for emergency evaluation and treatment post discharge Discharge planning protocol with a goal of returning patients to their homes as quickly as possible Program monitors transitions of care for patients discharged to another setting (e.g., home, rehab facility) using a formal method Program has an established protocol ensuring that the operation note and discharge summary of each patient are made available to the primary care physician upon discharge Program tracks receipt of the operation note and discharge summary by primary care physician Program utilizes local Blue Cross Blue Shield case management care team as needed to help coordinate transitions of care Average and median surgeon volumes (across all active spine surgeons) are at least 50 spine surgeries during reported 2 month period. Surgeons may include cases done at any facility 3-5 guidelines = 2-2 guidelines = for 3 practices - 6 BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0
Programs that do not meet the median surgeon volume threshold of at least 50 spine surgeries in 2 months but have a median of at least 40 procedures will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis Facility Volumes 55 Facility performs at least 00 spine surgeries during reported 2 month period Procedure-specific thresholds are met for the following complication: Intra-operative dural tear Single level lumbar discectomy is 4% for each threshold met -2 level decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis is 9% 56-2 level posterior lumbar fusion ± decompression is 0% -2 level revision lumbar-thoracic posterior fusion ± decompression Complication Rates Single level anterior cervical fusion Procedure-Specific thresholds are met for the following complication: Intra-operative blood transfusion Single level lumbar discectomy is 2% for each threshold met 56-2 level decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis is 0% -2 level posterior lumbar fusion ± decompression -2 level revision lumbar-thoracic posterior fusion ± decompression Single level anterior cervical fusion Complication Rates 56 PE/DVT within 30 days of discharge for all procedures Average LOS meets procedure-specific thresholds: -2 level decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis is 3.5 days -2 level posterior lumbar fusion ± decompression is 6.0 days for each threshold met Length of Stay (LOS) 56-2 level revision lumbar-thoracic posterior fusion ± decompression is 6.0 days Single level anterior cervical fusion is 2.5 days Single level Lumbar Disectomy Readmissions 56 30-Day post discharge readmission rate for all procedures Reoperations 56 30-Day post operative reoperation rate for all procedures Peri-operative Outcomes Tracking 56 BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS Facility Contracting 5 Subspecialists 6 Provider Contracting 53 Facility tracks and reports all of the following outcomes for the select spine surgical procedures performed at the facility: Average LOS (days) Intraoperative dural tear (%) Intraoperative blood transfusion (%) PE/DVT within 30 days of discharge (%) 30-day post-discharge readmission rate (%) 30-day post-operative reoperation rate (%) Facility is a participating provider in the local Blue Plan s Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) Network Proportion of the spine surgical care providers and/or provider groups (i.e., anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists) that have current agreements with the local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plan All identified surgeons have active Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) network participating provider contracts with the local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plan, pending Blue Distinction designation to the extent required by the local Blue Plan 2 for tracking and reporting all results of selected spine surgical procedures - 7 BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0
OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMMATIC SCORING Points General Criteria for all BDCs Structure 27 Spine Surgery Structure 34 Process 28 Outcomes and Volume TOTAL POINTS 00 % Structure 6% % Process 28% % Outcome % Total Percent 00% - 8 BlueDistinctionSpine/Criteria/rev.2/08/0